


Nothing ever really ends, does it?

by HolmesAndNotQuiteWatson



Category: Supernatural
Genre: "There Will Come Soft Rains" AU, "There Will Come Soft Rains" Verse, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Angst, Cas is the only survivor of the Apocalypse, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Established Relationship, Hallucination Dean, Hallucinations, Human Castiel, M/M, Past Domestic Fluff, Plural, Such angst, major character deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-18 04:29:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2335349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolmesAndNotQuiteWatson/pseuds/HolmesAndNotQuiteWatson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So what's it all add up to? It's hard to say. But me, I'd say this was a test... for Cas. And I think he did all right. Up against, Good, Evil, the goddamned Apocalypse and his own mind, he made his own choice. He chose Dean. And, well... isn't that kinda the whole point? No doubt - endings are hard. But then again... nothing ever really ends, does it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing ever really ends, does it?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NotQuiteWatson](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=NotQuiteWatson), [anya99](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anya99/gifts), [tracy_loo_who](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tracy_loo_who/gifts).
  * Inspired by [This Thing Called Free Will](https://archiveofourown.org/works/68699) by [tracy_loo_who](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tracy_loo_who/pseuds/tracy_loo_who). 



> In case this isn't clear, this is set in an AU based of Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains", in which humanity has been annihilated and only their technology remains (the year is 2026), and tries to get on without them.
> 
> Except Cas survives.
> 
> This was actually an English assignment, and NotQuiteWatson and anya99 yelled at me for feelsing it up.  
> Thanks to both of them for great, if initially mostly consisting of the word "no", beta-ing and brit-picking.

Three hundred and fifty days after the world ended, Cas will watch the sun burn into the horizon. Nothing will remain of the Neighbourhood-That-Was- the world a crisp shell of its former glory, held too long over the flames.

In the silence he’ll remember everything he has survived and smile. There’ll be a hand on his shoulder and he’ll know who waits behind him, just out of sight, as he always has.

It will be time for the nightmare to end.  
\--

Three hundred and four days after the Apocalypse, rain will fall and Cas will lie on the once-perfect grass and watch the stars. He will wonder if they shine brighter than before.

“Hey Cas.”

In relief, the corners of Cas’ mouth will curve up. He will have missed Dean. But Cas will turn his head and remember that no one is there, or ever has been.

“I miss you.” But Dean won’t respond, and so Cas will talk to the stars instead in the half-hearted hope that they will listen.  
\--

Cas will stop counting days after the two hundred and ninety-third. Summer will have returned and the blossoms will bloom with admirable ferocity. Tired, he will sit on the last remnants of his home- the doorstep- and watch the colours explode into life.

As always, there will be a presence behind him in the ashes, yet Cas will not turn, only talk. “You’d like how the wild roses turned out,” he will say, as if Dean could hear him, “They’re so beautiful.”  
\--

On the two hundred and thirty-eighth day, Cas will watch the only home he has ever known tear itself apart after a storm and feel nothing. He will have stopped trying to save the old world.  
\--

On the one hundred and seventieth day, Cas will realize he is beginning to forget what Dean looks like, and so he will painstakingly recreate every detail of his face on the kitchen wall.

And when, just as he has finished, the mechanical mice creep forward and erase his efforts, Cas will allow himself to cry.  
\--

On the one hundred and fifty-sixth day after Cas’ world ended, the house will fall silent but for the systematic ticking that marks every second and salutes every hour. The silence will only serve to further emphasize how very alone Cas is.

It will be the first day he doesn’t pray for help. Instead, he will pray for the end.  
\--

The one hundred and fifty-second day will dawn to snow. The clock will call out the date- January 24th 2027- and announce that it’s Dean’s birthday.

The lights in the kitchen will flicker on and off all day as the electricity falters and the house will cause a blackout desperately trying to restart them.

Somehow it will almost feel like any other day, except when Cas will find the small velvet box and remember him of what he had wanted for himself in the Days-Before.  
\--

Between the fiftieth and the one hundred and twentieth days, Cas will make one last attempt to find Dean; half mad and sure he will have survived the Apocalypse.

Determined, he will shoulder a bag and head out, mouth set, blue eyes bright with something akin to hope.

Every day on his journey seems to begin with some new sight in a broken world. Cas will see things he has never seen before, and he will wish he had someone to share them with. Because, though he will search, Cas will not find any sign of human life, and none at all of Dean.

So he will do his best to forget and stride on until he tires more with every passing step and even his lightweight pack drags him to the ground.

Lying there, the gravel will dig into Cas’ skin. Rain will fall and turn to hail, and drop after drop will hammer into his shoulders, beating him down, leaving him bloody. He will not consider trying to save himself.

“Dude,” he will hear someone say. “ _Dude,_ Cas. Get up.” More impossible things will have happened, and Cas will be so sure that it’s Dean’s voice that he will muster the courage to push himself to his feet.

There will be no one there. And, though he will be aware how crazy it sounds- even to his own ears-, he will look up and down the road, through the rain, and speak.

“I will wait for you.” His voice, rough from disuse, will come out as more of a whisper than the strong promise he had hoped for. “I won’t give up.”

These promises will give Cas the strength to walk on back home.  
\--

On the first day after the Apocalypse, Cas will stumble out of the cellar and call Dean. There will be no response and he will search their house, yelling over the voice in the kitchen.

“Today is August 26th 2026!” It will chime out merrily, and Cas will not listen, because he will have seen the charcoal silhouettes on the wall and recognised Dean’s profile.

“Today is Anna’s birthday.” It will continue, oblivious to all that will have happened. “Dean’s parents are coming to visit, remember to make the beds.”

Cas will scream a broken scream and wish he could turn back time.

 _Tick tock. Tick tock._ The clock will tick on in time to Cas’ shuddering breaths.  
\--

The day of the Apocalypse will be a perfectly ordinary day, and Cas will go down into the cellar in the evening to choose a wine to go with dinner. Something will shake the Earth and he will throw himself under the doorframe of the bunker and wait for it to be over.

“Please, God, let me live.” He will mumble, eyes squeezed shut as the rumble passes through.  
\--

One year after the Apocalypse, Cas will let out a breath he won’t realize he has been holding and let go of the world.

_You were worth it, Dean. Every second._

**Author's Note:**

> Read "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury here:  
> http://www.elizabethskadden.com/files/therewillcomesoftrainsbradbury.pdf  
> Read "This Thing Called Free Will" here:  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/68699


End file.
